My Sister's Keeper
My Sister's Keeper is a novel by Jodi Picoult. It stars the Fitzgerald sisters Anna and Kate. The novel begins with Anna's discription of how babies are conceived: by mistakes. She then describes her own birth and how she was genetically engineered to donate specific parts to her sister, Kate who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 2. The main theme of the book is that life in general is better than death, until it isn't. 'Summary ' In Providence, Rhode Island, Anna Fitzgerald is a thirteen year old girl who was a genetically engineered embryo created solely for the purpose of being able to donate organs to her sister, who suffers from acute promyelocytic lukemia. While Anna is usually willing to donate whatever Kate needs to be better, after she turns thirteen she seeks the assistance of lawyer Campbell Alexander to help her gain medical emancipation from her parents, following the announcement that she will need to donate a kidney for Kate. Campbell initially refuses, but eventually agrees after Anna explains that she fully understands what she is doing, and why she wants medical emancipation in the first place. While Anna requires the help of a lawyer, her mother Sara, an ex-lawyer herself, decides to represent herself in the trial. Throughout the book, readers follow the process of the dynamic between Anna and Sara, seeing how Anna's well being is seemingly pushed to the side when Kate is in medical danger. In fact, several times before and during the trial, Sara attempts to convince Anna to drop the lawsuit, despite Anna's insistence that it is truly what she wants, resulting in a Guardian Ad Litem being appointed for Anna. Upon advice from Julia Romano, the Guardian Ad Litem, Anna moves in at her father, Brian's, workplace, the local firehouse. Throughout the book, Anna can be seen as being closer to his younger daughter, believing that his wife did not give her enough attention nor truly see Anna as anything but a convenient donor for Kate. During the drama, Anna's and Kate's older brother Jesse, who is constantly shunted aside in favor of sick-Kate and donor-Anna, is a self-proclaimed juvenile delinquent who enjoys committing arson. Despite partaking in the use of drugs and alcohol, Jesse is a fundamentally good person, although it is not immediately obvious through his actions. Towards the end of the book, however, readers see the better side of Jesse, when he first saves a homeless man from a fire (albeit it being one that he started), and again when he creates a distraction that would detract from his mother's opinion of himself, so that Anna can go in and see Kate following a medical emergency. Eventually, Jesse reforms by the epilogue and graduates from the police academy. Throughout all of this, the family's past is uncovered through a series of flashbacks, finally culminating in the courtroom when Anna reveals that the only reason she sued for medical emancipation was, yes, she didn't want to donate her kidney, but mainly because Kate asked her not to. Kate believed that she was going to die anyways, and didn't want Anna to have to suffer through the pain of having majorly invasive surgery, only to have it be for nothing. Following this revelation, the judge grants Anna medical emancipation, and dismisses the case. However, Campbell and Anna are soon hit by an oncoming truck in the car on the way back from the courtroom after signing the legal papers that appoint Campbell as Anna's medical advisor. This accident proves fatal for Anna, and after Brian finds Anna unconscious in the totaled car, he has her brought to the nearest hospital where she is pronounced brain-dead. Following the diagnosis, Anna's kidney is given to Kate on the consent of Anna's medical advisor, lawyer, and now friend, Campbell Alexander. In the epilogue, it is revealed that after Anna's death, Brian "fell deep into a bottle, and had to claw his way out." Sara truly appreciates how far her younger daughter was willing to go to protect her older daughter, Jesse has reformed from his delinquent days and is now a graduate of the police academy, Kate has been in remission for six years, and Campbell and Julia, having shared a rough romantic past, are now married. Kate also believes that the only reason why she has been in remission for six years was because the between the two Fitzgerald sisters, only one could live. Since Anna had died, God had allowed Kate to survive the transplant and live in remission. Kate now works as a dance instructor. Category:Jodi Picoult books